Does Irma embarrass climate-change deniers?

Pat Cunningham

Friday

Sep 8, 2017 at 2:47 PM

At this writing, much of the state of Florida is bracing for a direct hit this weekend by Hurricane Irma, which raises a few interesting questions: What do the inveterate deniers of climate science think of all this talk of doom and gloom? How will these skeptics explain away the havoc Irma is expected to visit […]

At this writing, much of the state of Florida is bracing for a direct hit this weekend by Hurricane Irma, which raises a few interesting questions:

What do the inveterate deniers of climate science think of all this talk of doom and gloom?

How will these skeptics explain away the havoc Irma is expected to visit upon the Sunshine State?

Is Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who ordinarily is a skeptic when it comes to climate alarmism, going to apologize for his previous senselessness?

Why should residents of Scott's state heed his warnings about the dangers of Irma when he has a life-long reputation for scoffing at the findings of climate scientists?

Don't get me wrong about this stuff. I'm not a denier, but neither do I want death and disaster to befall those folks who are deniers. I want them shamed for their anti-science bias, but nothing worse.

Oh, sure it's almost funny to see certain Floridians hurriedly escape the state where they live to avoid something they said wasn't going to happen. Rush Limbaugh comes to mind. But El Rushbo isn't likely to be embarrassed. He's based his career on the gullibility of the morons who follow his every word. I'm sure he'll find some way to explain his casual skepticism about predictions of Irma causing trouble.

Climate-change skeptics tend to be political right-wingers. The Republican Party, for example, has far more of them than the Democrats do. Evangelical Christians also lean strongly toward the denialism side. But then, most of them also dismiss the scientific consensus on evolution.

One of the great ironies in all of this is that some Republican politicians probably are not as dismissive of climate science as Limbaugh, et al, say they should be. But the GOP is not known for tolerance of such dissent from the party line. A Republican officeholder who says he or she agrees with most Democrats on climate matters is almost certain to face a primary challenge from someone who wouldn't dare stray from the party line.

I'm still hoping that Irma turns out to be far milder than expected. But if it doesn't, I'm going to remember the names of the prominent people whose dismissal of the dire warning was based mostly on wishful thinking.